Jerry Ball (born Jerald Truman Ball, December 16, 1932, Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.A.; died August 14, 2019, Walnut Creek, California), college professor of mathematics and haiku poet active in organizing group activities. In 1977 Ball joined the Yukuharu Haiku Society in California, which later became the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society. He served as editor of a members’ anthology, planned and developed the annual YTHS haiku retreat at Asilomar State Park, California, and served as society president. Ball was cofounder (with Garry Gay, 1991) of the biennial Haiku North America conferences, and coedited (with Gay and Tom Tico, 1992) The San Francisco Haiku Anthology. Following his formal retirement as college professor in 1996, Ball took a position teaching at California State University, Long Beach, and intensified his involvement in haiku, launching the Southern California Haiku Study Group in 1997 and organizing the Haiku Pacific Rim conferences beginning in 2001. Jerry Ball last resided in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Note: This is an abstract of a longer biographical article to come.